Feudal Services

t/html; charset=windows-1252">
Feudal Services

Feudal
Services

Feudalism and
feudal services dominated the life of a medieval
peasant. The whole social structure of Medieval
England was based around feudalism which essentially gave a lot to the lords
of the manor with seemingly nothing being given to the peasants in return.
Feudal services and the whole concept of feudalism kept the peasant poor. One of
the causes of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was
the desire by the nobility to re-instate feudalism in its purest form back into
English society. The most common forms of feudal services were:

Labour Service

The work you
were expected to do for your lord on his land.

Heriot

This was the giving
your best animal to your lord of the manor in exchange for the right to
hold land.

Mortuary

Merchet

Tallage

This was a tax paid
each year by the serfs to the lord of the manor

Toll Tax

This was a tax paid to
the lord of the manor when an animal had been sold by its owner.

Boon-work

These were extra days
villagers had to work for the lord at a busy time of the year such as
harvests and ploughing